US Hyundai Elantra Owner Hits 1,000,000 miles In Five Years

As a Singaporean, our sense of scale can be pretty skewed, thanks to our island’s small size (about 50km by 27km). While motorists in other countries can easily spend an hour each way commuting to work, some Singaporeans can consider a 20km commute a chore, and find a drive up to KL (about 350km) absolutely intimidating.

Consider for a moment though, driving 870km daily. That’s just slightly longer than the distance from Singapore’s Tuas Checkpoint to the Malaysia/Thailand border along the North South Highway (820km).

That’s the average distance a Hyundai Elantra owner in the States has covered every day for the past five years. As a result, Ms Farrah Haines, a delivery driver from Kansas, has recently crossed the 1 million mile mark (1.6 million km) in her car, which was purchased only in 2013.

Where Singapore’s average annual mileage is around 12,000km, and most cars get scrapped after their 10 years of COE at between 120,000 to 150,000km, Ms Haines has driven her Elantra 320,000km each year. In comparison, the distance between Earth and the moon is 384,000km.

Even Hyundai couldn’t believe it initially, running multiple tests to validate her odometer reading. Product engineers inspected her engine casting numbers, service records, wire harness, and engine mounts, while Hyundai service and system engineers also reviewed her mileage records for her two jobs.

To commemorate this astonishing achievement, Hyundai Motor America crafted a special Million Mile Emblem to be stuck on the car’s odometer (since it can only read up to six figures), and also presented her with a brand-new 2019 Elantra.